The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-07-29
IAN AND DEMOCRAT. BLOOMSBURG COLUMBIA COUNTY, Pa

on which was Bavispc. About two
miles North of the crater the stream
stopped and spread itself over consider.
able area, where 1t has cooled in wild
formation. The elevation on which
we stood was separated from the vol.
canic peak by chasm, yet there was a
continuous hGmming vibration of the
solid rock under our feet, and the air
was filed with grinding noise. The
table land from which we obtained our
view sweeps eastward with = gentle
curve and at a distance of mile we
found favorable camping place.
From there, at about dusk on the sec.
ond day, we had fine view of short
but violent eruption. As our purpose
was simply to obtain definite assurance
that volcano really did exist, we
made preparations for our return on
the day following. The trip back to
Bavispe was unaccompanied by special
incident.
"The party obtained from Mexican
prospector named Alvarez, who lived
in the United States for number of
years and speaks English huently, an
account of the extraordinary changes
the convulsion has wrought in the topo
graphy Of the country. When he
went to Bavispe April last a ragged
spur of the range which now appears
extending Northward from the crater
was not visible, but hidden by an ele.
vation thickly covered by brush and
trees. On the morning succeeding the
first tremendous shock he was amazed
to find the woods had disappeared and
in their place this section of the range.
The place intervening had become a
depression across a portion of which
we had passed. This accounted for
the fissures and chasms which had so
impeded our progress. For two days
following this upheaval the shocks were
violent and practically continuous.
Back of the range which 80 suddenly
and mysteriously made its appearance
is another spur of about the same
heighth and dimensions, but not visible
from Bavispe. During one of the most
violent shocks this range was lifted up
ward into plain view, the front of one
sinking and the two granite monsters
sea swerving up and down half doz-
en- times. The people of the town be-
lieved the earth was about to over
whelm them, and the terror that ensued
is easier imagined than described. Be
fore they could fly the shock was over.
"Alvarez fixes the mortality at thirty
eight, exclusive of those who must have
been caught and buried in the ruins,
and it is curious circumstance that
some days later several women died
OF symptoms identical with that of
seasickness. He stated that at Bacarac
changes in the formation of the country
were reported to have taken place to
the South, and that all through the in
tervening territory old springs had
dried up, new ones appeared and gey-
sers spurted forth. Without exception
the water was boiling hot. He assur
ed us that the geyser we encountered
was OF more recent origin than the
others, and had only been spouting
from eight to ten days. Its appear
ance was heralded by crash that was
audible at Bavispe. Here seems to
have been the centre of the recent
scismic disturbance, the effects of which
were distinctly telt at El Paso and as
far West as San Diego and North to
the upper confines of California.
'The party learned that the Yaqui
River, which defines the boundary be.
tween Chihuahua and S nora, telnpor-
orily disappears near the coal fields of
Onaga, as a result of the recent dis
turbances. 1t does not sink into beds
of quicksand, as is frequently the case
with these Mexican streams, but it is
said to flow directly into a deep rift
broken across its bed during the earth
quake. The point at which it re.
appears is not exactly clear, but eighty
or ninety miles to the South the same
stream is sleepily creeping towards the
Gulf of California and gives no sign of
the strange sub.erranean journey it
makes in its course.